Simsbury To Honor Holocaust Victims In Name Reading Ceremony

Dozens will gather in #Simsbury this week for a 24-hour ceremony to honor Holocaust victims

SIMSBURY — On the steps of Eno Memorial Hall this week, dozens of volunteers will honor the victims of the Holocaust by reading as many of their names as possible in 24 hours.

The event, hosted by Farmington Valley Jewish Congregation — Emek Shalom, is part of International Holocaust Remembrance Day, or Yom Hashoah, on Thursday.

Michael Bonchick brought the ceremony to Simsbury about eight years ago after watching a similar one while studying at the University of Maryland.

"The community has accepted it and embraced it and it's grown from there," Bonchick said. "People, I think, recognize the significance of the event and they … like to lend their voices."

Bonchick said it would take about a year of reading nonstop to make it through all 6 million Jewish victims, and about two years to read the names of all 11 million victims.

"That's an unfathomable amount of time," Bonchick said. "We try to remember our past as Jews, but we also try to remind people that it still goes on today and it should never happen again, to any people."

John Woike / Hartford Courant

In this 2015 file photo, Barb Hirsch of Simsbury lights a candle as Patty Voorvaart of Simsbury, seated behind her, reads from a list of names of those who died in the Holocaust.

In this 2015 file photo, Barb Hirsch of Simsbury lights a candle as Patty Voorvaart of Simsbury, seated behind her, reads from a list of names of those who died in the Holocaust.

(John Woike / Hartford Courant)

Bonchick cited current forms of "ethnic cleansing," such as the genocide in Darfur and the violence by the Islamic State.

The event starts with a brief prayer service at 6 p.m. Wednesday. From there, about 200,000 names will be read in 15 minute increments. Bonchick said names occasionally will be accompanied by a person's age and where he or she was born and died.

Names will be read until 5:45 p.m. Thursday, when the ceremony will conclude with more prayers.

Bonchick said that while most name-reading slots are filled, volunteers are needed for the hours between midnight and 6 a.m. Thursday.

"It's one of the most moving times," Bonchick said. "If you ever stand on steps of Eno Hall, across the street is a beautiful cemetery … [and] it's something to ponder. If you think of the staggering number, what it would take to bury 6 million bodies.

"When you read names of children 1 or 2 years old … or you read a list of people that have the same last name, that's a whole family that's been wiped out. When you see 50 names all from the same village, that's a whole village that's gone," Bonchick said. "It's crazy to contemplate that."

For more information, or to volunteer, contact Bonchick at fvjcyomhashoah@gmail.com.